Garden Planning

“You always get so excited this time of year!” says Chris while I go through my seed packages trying to figure it out if any seeds need to be ordered this year. He is so right! One of my favourite winter activities is to plan my garden. This year I may have gone a bit overboard. My reasoning is that since I will be on maternity leave, and Samuel loves outdoors, I will have more time to dedicate to the garden. Plus, since we have to do a few outdoor renos, it will be easier to finally establish that herb garden that I have been dreaming about since last year’s Open Garden Day.

With that in mind, garden planning started by ordering a few plants from Richters Herbs and connecting with some avid gardener friends for any interesting plants that they might have in excess. Raspberry canes, alpine strawberries, marshmallow, lemon balm, and thyme are a few of the perennials that I hope will survive their first season in my front yard.

Then there is the small backyard with its 2 raised beds and much underutilized space. When we purchased the house there was nothing but a big slab of concrete where a garage used to stand. During the past few years concrete was torn, soil was brought in, raised beds built (twice). The plan this year is to truck in more soil so we are able to grow food in the ground as well as in the raised beds. I have also collected a few wooden wine crates to have some pretty containers for greens.

Ambitious? Certainly. I partially have to blame Alys Fowler’s docs that I (and Samuel) have been watching. If that lady can grow all that food in a tiny yard in the UK, so can I on this side of the Atlantic. I have pulled out all my gardening books to try to plan as much as possible my future garden. A few seeds had to be ordered but I have most from previous years.

If you are looking for a Canadian supplier this is where I have been getting seeds in the past years:

This is the list of some of the books that are in the photo above. A small sample of the gardening books I love scouring for inspiration and information through the year. If you decide to buy any of these books through my links I receive a commission at no extra charge to you.

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Comments

I love Cubit’s, and Hope Seeds. I’d also add Urban Harvest (uharvest.ca) because the owner is awesome, and The Cottage Gardener (www.cottagegardener.com) because they often carry very old and unusual varieties.